Ambiga: Table death penalty abolition bill as a gift on Human Rights Day

National Human Rights Society (Hakam) chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan urged the Pakatan Harapan government to table the bill to abolish the death penalty as a “gift” on Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec 10.

“I hope that they will present the bill on Human Rights Day as a present to the people of Malaysia. I cannot see any basis for holding back on abolishing it,” said Ambiga during a forum on the abolition of death penalty titled 'Rationale and Implications' held at the Bar Council in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

“This is a new Malaysia. We are promising democracy and you must not be afraid to take that step,” she added.

Ambiga was a panellist at the forum alongside Bukit Gelugor MP and lawyer Ramkarpal Singh as well as Bar Council secretary and its Human Rights Committee co-chairperson Roger Chan Weng Keng.

The forum was moderated by Bar Council Human Rights Committee deputy chairperson Saha Deva A Arunasalam and saw an attendance of about 60 people.

Ambiga said that it has been very disappointing to hear what the government has been saying about laws that they had initially imposed a moratorium on and she hoped that Harapan will not backtrack on their word to abolish the capital punishment. 

She added that ‘gathering feedback’ was not a valid reason to delay the abolition as the move is not something new in the global arena.

“It is not the first time this happening in the world. So, sitting down and hearing points of views is not something that is new.

“People have been researching this and taking into account ordinary people’s views for a long time.”

“I am not saying don’t listen to views. But for me, it would be very nice that all the views to be taken into account and we know what the views are. That’s nothing different from what we heard before.”

The government’s recent announcement to abolish the death penalty with plans to replace it with at least a minimum of 30 years’ imprisonment has raised much debate among the public. Families of murder victims have cried foul while human rights advocates laud the government’s move.

According to de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong, the cabinet has decided that the death penalty for 32 offences under eight acts of law be abolished, and this includes Section 302 of the Penal Code (murder).

However, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail claimed that Putrajaya is still studying whether to abolish the death penalty or remove the mandatory clause in laws related to capital punishment.  - Mkini